Inuko
by Ghostly Priestess Kikyo
Summary: Sota was an ordinary boy who fell down a very un-ordinary well... A look at what would happen if the Inu-Yasha characters' genders were switched. Rated T for possible cussing.
1. The Cursed Girl

**Author's Note: Heyz, fellow Inu-Yasha fans. Anywho, after focusing on a few other manga for a while, I have decided to revisit this series in what shall be… this. Just to clarify, most of the characters' opposite-gender names will be created either by transforming their name into something similar-sounding that works for the opposite sex (I'll stick with the same name for unisex names…) or switching two characters' names. (So, the male "Kagome" is Sota, and his sister is Kagome.)**

Inuko

Chapter One: The Cursed Girl

The suffocating odor of flame filled the air, sending animals and demons alike flying miles away. Even closer to the village, the moaning cries of its villagers could reach one's ear. Multiple families had been killed, either by the fire or by the razor-sharp claws which cut through everything in their path. It was all for one thing. Not the demonic satisfaction of destroying a village. Not even the powerful jewel which now rested safely in the attacker's claws. It had been done for revenge.

A red-and-white flash soared through the air, landing gracefully on a severed stump several feet away from the rising smoke. "Weaklings," she cackled, her voice a scratching hiss. "You should have known this would happen, someday. If not me, another. No 'virtuous' priest is here to save you now, stupid mortals!"

The demon grinned maniacally at the glowing bauble in her hands. _I can't believe I ever wanted to disown this! This is mine, mine alone! _This _is all I need! Not him! Not hi—_

As if on cue, a figure clad in a red and white kimono burst from the flames. He held a single scroll in his hand, wielding it like a weapon. From under his mop of midnight-black hair were two eyes radiating hatred. "Inu…ko…" he gasped, eyes narrowing as he said her name.

The demon turned, wide-eyed, to face the voice, but it was too late. The priest shot forward, pinning his opponent to a tree behind her. Chanting, he placed the spell on her chest and shot backward as if stung. But it was not him who was injured; he simply didn't want to touch her any more than he had to.

Inuko, the once-strong half-demon, looked down at the scroll with disappointment. She already found that she couldn't move most of her muscles, and she was quickly losing her grip on the jewel she had stolen. "Damn…" she growled, already beginning to fall into unconsciousness. "I'd have been fine with losing… if it wasn't you who won… I hate you… Kyo…"

As his opponent's mind went black, Kyo knelt to pick up the jewel that had fallen from her hands. "That goes double for myself…" he murmured, clutching his stomach in pain. "I'll hate you for eternity… traitor."

"Kyo! Brother!" A scrawny boy with similar shoulder-length hair rushed up to the priest's side. "You've been hurt!"

Kyo fell to the ground in agony. Cracking a smile for his younger brother, he replied, "It's… nothing big, Kaede. Just promise that you'll burn the Shikon Jewel with me. I will not… let any more evil creatures take it."

"Brother!" cried Kaede, his eyes filling with tears of grief. "What do you mean, 'burn it with you'? Brother…? Brother!"

But his voice came to unhearing ears. So, too, were the canine ears of the defeated Inuko, but that didn't mean that her soul was unliving. She had said it herself: she would _not _let Kyo win.

* * *

Sota Higurashi frowned, fingering a small keychain decorated with a single glass marble. "A 'sacred jewel?' I don't buy it, Grandma. These are just marbles…"

"Of _course_ they're just marbles!" cried his companion, an elderly woman wearing an old-fashioned kimono. "They cost 300 yen each! You think I would sell the real Shikon Jewel for that price? Never!"

"The Shikon Jewel doesn't exist," replied her grandson bluntly. "Live in modern-day, would you?"

"How rude!" The old woman pouted jokingly. "And after I brought you an early birthday present, too!"

"You _didn't _buy me an early birthday present."

"Oh. Didn't I?"

Sota sighed, running a hand through the thick fur of the family's cat. It wasn't that he didn't like his grandmother; it was that he felt that she sorely needed to come back from the past. Just owning a shrine didn't make you a Feudal-Era priestess, and having some old well in your backyard didn't make the old stories of heartless demons and magical jewels any more than what they were. For they were just that: stories.

In Sota's opinion, the entirely Higurashi family could use a small push towards the twenty-first century. It wasn't just his grandmother. Even his younger sister, Kagome, refused to go near the Bone-Eater's Well on their property. Speaking of which…

"Kagome, quit staring at the place like that. It's embarrassing. If it scares you so much, stop looking at it."

The elementary student turned around shakily, and Sota saw that there were tears in her eyes. "Sota… Chiyo ran in! She ran in the well!"

Sota slowed to a halt, turning toward his younger sister. "Well, obviously you did something to scare the poor cat into there. You save her; I have to get to school."

"But Sooooota!"

She was beginning to cry even harder. _Dammit, _Sota thought. He could never counter tears.

"Fine. I'll get her. But you owe me a _huge _favor, all right?"

Kagome nodded shyly, covering her face with her hands.

As Sota entered the well-house, he immediately found himself within an aura of foreboding. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he now understood why Kagome was afraid of the place. Something about the air just suggested that all was not right in the building. Sota peered down to the well, which was, naturally closed. It wasn't in use any more, after all. Calling his cat's name uncertainly, he began making his way down the first few steps.

"Chiyo!" Step, step…

"C'mon, kitty! I've gotta get to school!" Step, step…

"Oh, Kagome, would you stop sniffling like that? I'm going to find—" Step, step, KRAK!

Kagome let out a cry, crawling even farther away from the well than she already was. Sota sighed, his ears ringing from his sister's howl. It was only a rotten floorboard; such was to be expected. But still, he felt his heartbeat build in tempo as he worked his foot free of the cracked wood.

"It's all right, Kagome, I just tripped is all. C'mon, I see the lid of the well moving. Chiyo must have gotten in there somehow."

He had forgotten that the well was more than twenty feet deep.

"Kagome, seriously, it's all right. It's—"

Sota's eyes widened. The lid had opened, just ever so slightly, and peeking back out at him was an eye. Not a cat's eye, but a human's eye. The eye of a mad, maniacal human.

Before he could cry out, six arms had wrapped around his body. A man's torso stood before him, but under that were the twitching, grotesque legs of a centipede. Pulling Sota free of the splintering floorboard, the creature dragged him deep into the well.

"S… Sota?" Kagome peered in, seeing the lid open, but with an extreme lack of her brother. "I… I found Chiyo. She was behind the well-house. I'm sorry… Sota?"

* * *

As Sota stared in horror, the man-insect gnashed his teeth gleefully. "Finally!" it cried, its voice barely a rasp. "Finally, it has returned! It has returned to its rightful owner!"

As packed earth soared past him, Sota suddenly realized that he had been airborne far too long to be falling down any average well. "L-Let go…" he stammered, feeling terror creep up his spine. As it reached his head, he gained a sudden strength. "Let _go!" _he repeated, more forcefully this time, thrusting his hand forward as he did so.

A dazzling light sprang from Sota's outstretched hand, sending the horrible creature flying backward as it did so. The teenager was too exhausted to notice the single human arm clutching his sleeve as the rest of the man-creature flew into the abyss, its infinite coils spiraling along behind it. "Curse it…!" hissed the creature, its eyes full of hatred. "You won't get away from me that easily!"

And with that, it fell into what seemed like a bottomless hole in the Earth. Sota shut his eyes, terrified that he would keep falling forever like the thing had seemed to. But, before his panic could escalate, the wind was knocked roughly out of him. He had landed.

Groaning, Sota turned so that he was facing upwards. Lying on his back, he took a few deep breaths and, almost unconsciously, shook the creature's arm off of his own. Instead of the ceiling of the well house, a blue sky greeted him from the top of the well (Which was, once again, only twenty feet away). _Chiyo, I don't think we're in Tokyo anymore… _He thought, smirking.

Ten minutes later, Sota, fell exhausted, onto the thick grass. He had worked his way out of the well, backpack and all (One never knows when and where textbooks will come in handy). The seemingly-cheerful sky was mocking him. He felt a sudden rush of resentment. _Why _me? _It's my birthday! Isn't it common courtesy _not _to let a guy get dragged into some alternate dimension on his birthday?!_

He lifted his head up to look at the surrounding forest boredly, lay his head back down, immediately looked up once again, rubbed his eyes, and blinked a few times. No, that hadn't been a hallucination—there really was a young girl of about his age sleeping standing-up on the tree in front of him.

Sota pulled himself into a standing position curiously, then approached the girl curiously. As if her traditional garb weren't enough, her long hair seemed to have been bleached to a silvery-white. No, scratch that—it wasn't the weirdest part about her by far. No, the strangest bit seemed to be her ears. They weren't human ears—no, rather they were that of a dog. Looking again, he decided that she _wasn't _sleeping after all. She had apparently been in that position so long that vines had grown around her peaceful form, and a mysterious spell-scroll was attached to the top of her kimono.

_Where the hell am I?! _He wondered with aggravation. _First that centipede-thing, and now—rather sexy, I'll admit, but that's irrelevant—girls with—_

He didn't finish the thought, as arrows had suddenly been fired into the tree which housed the sleeping/comatose girl. Sota whipped his head around in confusion.

A figure stood behind him, outlined by the rays of the sun. "Ho!" It called, its voice deep and scratching. "This land is forbidden! Who are you?!"

Sota just stared.

* * *

Staring around the village he had previously been escorted into, the teenager observed that, even if he were in the correct dimension, he was most certainly not in the correct time. Like the dog-girl, all of the villagers wore traditional clothes and spoke like characters from a historical movie.

The villagers passing by murmured to each other quietly, and considering from who they were pointing at as they did so, the subject seemed to be Sota. He didn't catch most of what they were saying, but he didn't really like the looks they gave him. He had even heard one woman say, quite distinctly, the word "demon."

A cry from his left caused Sota to spin around, but it wasn't him they were pointing to. Instead it was a hunched, elderly man. Sota thought he looked fairly physically inept, but he had an air of arrogance about him which Sota wasn't entirely sure he liked. "Kaede," he heard one villager say, addressing the old man. "We found this foreigner wandering about in Inuko's Forest."

The man turned toward Sota with a look of boredom, but his interest seemed to increase considerably as he took a good look at Sota's face. "My!" he cried, and even his voice sounded withered. "The boy looks just like my older brother!"

_Oh boy. I'm only fifteen, and yet I look like someone that's older than you? _Sota sighed, rolling his eyes. "Look, I'm not sure where I am. I'm hoping we can cover that before we get to the small talk."

A few villagers gasped, apparently shocked at the rude way the visitor addressed their "Kaede." The man, however, only smiled. "You're cheeky like him, too. Very well, then. This is but a humble village, trying to keep ourselves out of the sight of demons."

_Demons? _Sota prayed the man had used the word in a figurative sense.

"You see, my brother died over fifty years ago, which is why I was so surprised to see someone who looks so much like him. He was a priest, like I am now. Of course, he was _much _more powerful than myself." Kaede let out a rasping chuckle. "Kyo was a legend. He could fight off demons ten times his size. No, he could fight off _ten _demons at once!"

Apparently it seemed that the old man wasn't using the word in a metaphorical sense. Sota gulped.

Before Kaede could continue with his entire life story, a haggard-looking, middle-aged man rushed up to his elder. "Kaede! It's—It's a demon! It's coming towards the village!"

Sota took three steps back, eyes wide with horror, but Kaede only nodded. "Another, eh?" He gestured towards one of the villagers tiredly. "Get my bow, please. It's the only weapon I can use at my old age… I quit being able to swing a sword _long _ago…"

Before the woman could leave for the old man's home, a hideous _crack _came from somewhere on the outskirts of the village. A few villagers cried out, and one woman held her crying child close. Kaede frowned, finally beginning to look appropriately worried. "It's a big one," he commented.

Large indeed, a long, snakelike form cut through the trees—and one hut—on its way toward the congregation of people. Some of the villagers shrieked and ran away, but the centipede-man didn't even cast a glance their way. "So," it hissed, its eyes trained on Sota. "I've caught you. You're mine, coward."

Kaede raised an eyebrow at Sota. "I say. You and Lord Centipede know each other?"

Ignoring him, Sota stood up straight and put on what he hoped was a brave face. Trying to keep his voice from trembling, he replied, "I wasn't the one who fell into a bottomless pit last time, you know. I'd say you're the coward."

The creature let out a roar of fury. "Cheeky little brat! _You will give me the Shikon Jewel!!"_

"You have it?" cried Kaede, continuing with his queries. "That's impossible! It left the world with my brother!"

"I _don't _have it!" protested Sota, trembling. But, jewel or no jewel, the beast—Lord Centipede, was it?—seemed determined to kill Sota, and also anyone else in his way.

_Damn. Do I need to repeat that it's my birthday? Why do I have to be the hero?! _Nevertheless, Sota gritted his teeth and ran to a clear spot in the village, barely dodging an attack from Lord Centipede. "You want me?! Come get me!"

Kaede cupped his hands over his mouth and called, "Go to the well in Inuko's Forest! It's your best chance of escaping!" He still didn't have his bow (The woman had ran away at Lord Centipede's entrance) and didn't seem to be in the mood to do anything useful without it.

"The one I came out of, right?!" Sota yelled back, though he knew the old man had no chance of understanding what he meant. The teenager nodded and rushed full-force into the woods, with the centipede-demon still only two or three paces behind him. In normal circumstances, Sota would have no chance of finding his way back to the well. But, something was calling him, and for some reason he just _knew _that it was near the well. Looking up, he noticed a bright light emanating from the center of the forest. _That's my destination! _He thought, forcing all of his energy into running.

"My," remarked Kaede as soon as the chaos had escaped his village. "What a strange boy…"

* * *

Small, pointed ears twitched. Silver hair began to stir. Golden eyes opened. "Heh… heh…" she began, as if getting used to her voice again after the fifty years she had spent sealed. "I told you, Kyo. I won't let you win. Don't think I can't smell you getting closer…"


	2. Inuko Resurrected

**Author's Note: Yay for chapter two! I stopped writing this for a bit because I desperately needed to update my other story, but now I'm back! I'm really liking how this is turning out, but I'm not entirely sure how long this story will be. (Considering the Inu-Yasha manga has 558 chapters, it could be a while…)**

Inuko

Chapter Two: Inuko Resurrected

"_Give it to me now,_ child!!"

"Ooh, nice insult," goaded Sota, not entirely sure why he felt the need to enrage the beast anymore than it already was. "I suppose your next will be some other obvious statement—Are you gonna call me 'Boy,' perhaps? Or maybe you'll be even more general and go with 'human?' Ooh, I'm so--"

Sota paused mid-tease to duck as one hundred twitching insect legs passed over him. _Shit. He overtook me. I'm dead now, _he thought, far more calmly than he would have expected.

"Oh, so you're playing games with him like you did with me, now?" Startled, Sota chanced a glance in the direction of the voice to find the same dog-eared beauty that he had previously passed smirking down at him.

"You woke up?" Sota raised an eyebrow despite the obvious danger he was in. He had been almost positive the girl was dead, but apparently his first instinct was the correct one.

The girl laughed, a sound somewhere between a witch's cackle and a prankster's "You-fell-for-it" giggle. She grinned wider, revealing two sharp fangs that seemed to be standing in for her canines. "Sure did, Kyo. Looks like you've weakened. That's obvious just by the fact that you're curled up like that just because of _Lord Centipede._"

Sota was shocked by the scornful way she said the insect-man's name, as if he were nothing more than an annoying pest. But what he was most shocked about was how the girl had addressed him. "Kyo…? Look, I dunno who this bastard is, but evidently he's caused a lot of problems for me and I'm definitely not—"

"Shut up." Sota was indignant at her commanding tone, but obliged nonetheless. "He's here."

Just as the mysterious girl had predicted, five slimy arms immediately wrapped around Sota's exposed back. "I've found you…" sang the demon, his voice transforming into a thick, choking laugh. Sota was still, filled with enough terror to keep his muscles from moving even a single inch. From someplace far away he heard the dog-girl shouting taunts at him.

Then the weight of Lord Centipede was lifted off of him, and Sota turned to see Kaede standing there, bow outstretched. "I found it," he explained, notching another arrow to the string. "Sorry I took so long. My legs don't work like they used to."

As the demon writhed in pain a few feet away, the girl attached to the tree sighed. "Too bad, I was hoping you'd die. You've gotten a lot weaker, Kyo."

Sota regained enough of his sanity to pull himself up from the dirt. Suddenly feeling outraged, he snarled, "_Shut up _about this Kyo business!! Kyo this, Kyo that! Well, listen: I don't have a clue who he is, and I don't care either. So you can just—"

"Feh, how stupid do you think I am!?" interjected the girl, eyebrows narrowing. "I'd know that disgusting odor anywhere. You're Kyo, you're a bastard, and that's—" She paused, sniffing the air. "—Well, you're a bastard, at least," she finished, looking in the other direction poutily.

"I _told_ you!" retorted Sota, anger rising by the second. "The name is Sota! It's not that hard to remember! Sota! That's all! No Kyo involved!"

"You're right. I've lost my touch, too." The girl closed her eyes regretfully, and for an instant Sota thought she was going to apologize. Only an instant. "Kyo didn't have that girly look. And his voice didn't crack like a small child's when he got angry."

"Hey, like you're one to—"

The argument was cut off abruptly as Kaede fell to the ground with a moan. Lord Centipede, apparently having recovered, hunched over the aging man's body. With an inhuman shriek the beast tore the arrow from his flesh and threw it savagely at the priest. "You'll pay for that," It swore, "But first…"

Knowing that he would be the centipede-man's first target, Sota attempted to dash in the opposite direction, but was only a good six inches away when the demon grabbed him. Screaming in a way he knew the dog-girl would laugh at him for, the student reached his arms out to grab at something—anything—to keep him from being dragged away. His right hand connected with a wiry, thin substance, and before he realized that it was the girl's hair he had taken hold of it. "Hey, what the hell?!" she shrieked, trying to pull away but unable to do so due to her mystic attachment to the tree.

Kaede wrenched himself upwards, clutching his chest feebly. "Huh, well it seems I'm a bit out of—" His eyes shot immediately to the scene of the action, and for the first time in a long while the priest's face reflected total shock. "Inuko…?!"

Lord Centipede cackled, forcing his maw open to reveal unnaturally long, malformed teeth. "I've been waiting for this!" he roared, holding fast to Sota's torso. "If you won't give me the Shikon Jewel, then I'll just have to—"

"_Shut up!! You're not clever and that's all there is to it, so just…_ eh?" Sota blinked twice, unaware that, despite his newfound safety, he was still tearing clumps of Inuko's hair out. The same force that had come over him in the well-house seemed to have returned, and Lord Centipede now lay gasping on the earth, now with all six arms disconnected.

_Did that bug just say what I think it said…? _Inuko frowned, studying the boy who was accosting her silver hair carefully. She had already verified that he _wasn't_ Kyo, but… Evidently the centipede demon hadn't. _Or maybe he really does have it…?_

"Damn you!!" Inuko was shocked out of her reverie as Sota finally released her hair—only to be attacked by Lord Centipede. Sinking his fangs into the boy's side, the demon let out another screech of hatred. Then he pulled back savagely, letting go at the same time that an ocean of blood came forth. This red liquid was accompanied by a small violet marble.

Kaede gasped and the entrapped dog-girl let out a savage cry as the Shikon Jewel fell gently to the ground, oblivious to the violence that was raging around it. It glowed with an unearthly light as it came to a stop in the midst of the blood-stained grass. Sota studied it with wonder as he faded in and out of consciousness.

"No!! I was right!!" The injured boy opened his eyes slowly, then looked up at the voice's owner with vague interest as she struggled against the weight keeping her pinned to the tree. "You are him!! Or you know him!! Forget it, just _give it to me!!"_

Before Sota could process this sudden outburst, coils of writhing insect flesh surrounded him, forcing him up against Inuko's feet. The coils pushed him back further, almost tearing the breath out of him as Lord Centipede continued circling around the tree. "_Who_ isn't clever again, child?!" He then turned his gaze to the protesting dog-demon. "You're Inuko, aren't you? The half-breed weakling who was seeking the Shikon Jewel all those years ago?"

_Centipedes playing python? Half-breed? Need I repeat that today is my birthday?! _thought Sota helplessly as Inuko spat back a response.

"You want to talk about weaklings?! I'd hate to agree with a friend of that bastard Kyo, but you really _aren't _clever."

"You can say that, but even a bug like me can tell that you're unable to move. Did you let some mere _human _entrap you? It wouldn't surprise me." Lord Centipede smirked, an act made particularly disgusting by the presence of his huge fangs. Then, quick as lightning, it flew to the glass ball and reached for it with a reptilian tongue.

Grunting as the centipede's coils became even tighter, Inuko grimaced at the scene unfolding before her. "No--! You can't!"

But the jewel was already in his mouth, and Lord Centipede swallowed it with a joyous shudder. Moaning in ecstasy, its main body lay still as its arms flew to reattach themselves to the leftover stumps. Then, as his cries rose to a crescendo, a thin line began to stretch from the beast's forehead all the way down to the place where human torso met centipede body. Those watching didn't realize what the mark was until the demon's body began to split at that spot, revealing dark, wrinkled flesh below. Sota had to look away to keep from vomiting.

Lord Centipede's skin fell off all at once, revealing an insectile body with huge, staring eyes. They rolled gleefully as he gnashed his even-larger teeth. "My power… _Finally!!"_

As his coils tightened again, Sota heard a sharp snap from below and suddenly realized that his leg had broken. He gritted his teeth, trying his best to keep from crying out as the air was forced out of him.

"Hey, Kyo-boy," Surprised at how calm Inuko sounded, Sota looked up to see her staring seriously at the centipede-man's head. "You see this spell-scroll? Take it off of me."

"Wha…?" For the second time today, Sota had drifted dangerously close to unconsciousness.

"Don't listen to her!" Even in this dire situation, Sota couldn't help be shocked at how loudly the usually-easygoing old man's shout had reverberated in his ears. Kaede took a deep, labored breath, then continued. "If you take it off, Inuko will be free. _Her _vengeance released upon the world will be much more dangerous than Lord Centipede's."

Inuko's gaze snapped to the elderly priest, her lips rising in a snarl. "You must have a death wish, 'cause from what I see, you're not doing too well with the bug. If this keeps going the way it is, we'll all see each other in the afterlife soon! Either you die here or you die later, be it from my claws or not. So _choose!"_

Kaede still looked dubious, but Sota, for one, could see the logic in the girl's argument. Being strangled to death by some maniacal bug-monster wasn't exactly in his long lists of things to do with his life. And the scroll looked so fragile… Who was to say it wouldn't just be blown off by the wind some day, anyways? Gulping, Sota tore his arm free of the centipede's grip, then, fiercely, as if it was scalding hot, he ripped the scroll from the girl's kimono. The crumpled piece of paper meandered casually away from the two figures, then was blown out of sight by a gust of wind.

"No!" cried Kaede, but his warning fell upon deaf ears.

Where Inuko's prison of vines and wood had once stood, there was now a single pile of sawdust; the tree had been ripped to shreds. Before it crouched a slim, agile figure, her face contorted into a mangling smile. Sota rolled around on the earth futilely behind her, clutching his broken leg. Through the mask of pain he saw the girl in front of him dart forward at an inhuman speed, arm outstretched.

She landed in front of Lord Centipede's once-human torso, positioned like a runner waiting for the whistle to sound. It came in the form of a lunge from the centipede, aimed towards Inuko's fragile-looking body.

But before the sturdiness of her unused bones could be tested, Inuko darted out of the way and circled around behind him, landing on the spot where human flesh gave way to an insect's exoskeleton. "What's wrong? Can't catch me?!" she taunted, forcing her vicious claws into the monster's skin.

The creature howled, reaching around with its six arms for a hold on its attacker. But Inuko wasn't even threatened, smiling cruelly as Lord Centipede writhed. "All right," she began after a few moments of basking in her well-played attack. "I guess I really shouldn't play with my victims, should I?"

Sota didn't catch a good glimpse of what happened then; he only saw that, afterwards, Lord Centipede was nowhere to be seen and what could only be demon flesh was falling from the sky. Inuko stood in the center of it all, her fangs showing as she enjoyed her latest victory.

The beast's skull fell only six or seven inches away from Sota, and he grimaced at its grotesque features. Its emotionless eyes rolled, and it shuddered with an energy beyond comprehension.

"I'd find the Shikon Jewel if I were you." Sota looked up to see Kaede limping toward him. The old man seemed to be back to his old, calmer self now that the immediate danger had been avoided. "It's probably somewhere among this… mass. Wouldn't want it to revive, eh?"

"R-Revive…?" stuttered the teenager, finally letting go of his wounded leg.

"Yes. I suppose the Jewel is probably somewhere over…"

"It's _here,_ you useless mortals." Both Sota and Kaede looked over, surprised, to see Inuko tossing the gem from hand to hand cockily. She turned away, hiding her face to them, as she continued. "I searched for this for years, you know. And I finally have it. I did fulfill my end of the bargain, didn't I? I let you idiots live for a few more minutes than you would have."

She turned back to them, and Sota now noticed a glint in her eyes that was not entirely evil, but certainly not something he would describe as "kindness," either. "But now your time is up. You get to be the first guinea pigs for my newfound power…"


	3. Seekers of the Jewel

**Author's Note: I got a review! Yay for reviews! …I'm really pathetic, aren't I? Nevertheless, here's the third chapter!**

Inuko

Chapter Three: Seekers of the Jewel

"Sota," The uncharacteristically grave demeanor in the old man's voice was what finally tore Sota's gaze away from the smirking Inuko. "You can't let her use the jewel. Any demon who uses the Shikon Jewel is only adding to the unholiness of the Earth."

"So?!" came the dog-demon's simmering retort. "Do you think I care about the Earth?! Do you think I care about anyone other than _myself _any more?!"

_"Any more?" _Sota frowned. This girl didn't seem to the type to have _ever _cared for anybody.

"If that's what you think, _then you'll be sorely disappointed!!" _Inuko's final screech was drowned out as she leapt at Sota and swung her claws in a wide arc, sending a cloud of dust and gravel flying into both Sota's and her own eyes. As his ally-turned-enemy cursed, rubbing the dirt from her eyes desperately, Sota managed to limp away, his heart pounding. _What happened to Centipede-Boy back there wasn't anywhere near the extent of her power, was it?!_

"God_damn _it!" snarled Inuko, her vision finally cleared. "That's it! Next time I don't hold back!"

Sota smirked back, feeling his panic being swallowed up by his snarky personality yet again. "Don't flatter yourself. You weren't being merciful; you just missed!"

"Boy…" called Kaede boredly, a blank look on his face once again as he watched the battle before him. "Provoking her might not exactly be the best tactic."

"Well, what else do you propose?!" shouted the teenager, ducking to dodge another of Inuko's attacks. "If I'm going to die either way, then I'm going to die with my pride intact, thank you very much!" His determined, glowering eyes zeroed in on Kaede, and the priest suddenly felt the strong presence of his older brother.

Chuckling fondly, Kaede reached into his kimono and produced a string of violet beads. They glowed in the sunlight, sparkling like a new toy just waiting to be broken and dirtied with use. _"This _is what I propose, my friend!"

"What the hell are—" Sota paused to dodge Inuko's claws again, letting out a quick catcall as he trotted away. "—those?!"

Before Kaede could reply, Inuko let out a frustrated screech. The startled schoolboy turned to see her clutching at an identical string which seemed to have wrapped itself around her neck. Shocked, Sota looked back at the old priest to see that the necklace had disappeared from his hands. His gaze traveled back and forth between the two, confused. _Did that thing just teleport?!_

"Well, don't just sit there," prompted Kaede, running a gnarled finger through his gray hair. "Say the subduing word."

"You say that like I'm supposed to know what it means…" replied Sota, eyeing the still-struggling demon.

"There's no specific word. If my theory is right, any word will do. Just quiet the damned girl!"

"'Theory?!' You mean you're not sure?!"

Suddenly Sota felt two slender hands wrap themselves around his neck. A vicious cackling from behind his told the boy exactly whose claws were digging into his flesh at that very moment. "You don't know the first thing about battle," laughed Inuko. "Always pay attention to your opponent! Do you really think a weakling like yourself can subdue _me?!"_

Sota tried to speak, but no words came. He was frozen to the spot. Inuko's claws gripped tighter around his neck, and the teenager gasped for breath, feeling the air leave his body. _I'm doomed. I'm going to die right here. On my birthday. Oh my God, I'm doo—_"SIT!!"

The voice came from someplace far off. The same place, perhaps, where the light from Sota's hand had come. All he knew was that, in that place, a man who looked almost identical to himself sat watching, a smug smile playing on his lips. And that smile grew into a victorious laugh as Inuko found herself forced to the ground by an invisible force, her hands thrown back, away from her quarry.

"As I theorized," commented Kaede, nodding peacefully.

_You're using that word again, _thought Sota dubiously, though he didn't bother voicing his own "theories." Instead, he kept his gaze on Inuko, remembering her earlier words. Even if she was his enemy, she was right; Sota really didn't know anything about what he was doing.

As for the dog-woman herself, she lay in shock on the ground, as silent as she had been when she was still in the midst of her enchanted sleep. Hesitantly, she lifted one hand to her throat and tightened her grip around the rosary. Sota stiffened as she pulled, but the necklace didn't budge. "What… the hell…?" she finally muttered, her eyes wide with a rather unpleasant sense of wonderment.

Kaede took a step forward, clearing his throat. "No reason to worry, Sota. Just repeat the spell and she will be put out of commission instantly."

"Nice," replied Sota, smirking down at the incapacitated demon. Just as she made to pull herself upwards, he repeated, "Sit, girl."

"I see you've mastered the technique." Kaede turned to start back towards the village as Inuko fell to the ground again. "Shall we return?"

* * *

Crouched in the old priest's hut, Sota frowned at his broken leg. "I wonder how long this will take to heal…?" he murmured to himself, wincing in pain as he adjusted his position. He had not noticed the throb of agony in his wounded leg while in battle, but now it hurt like something he had never experienced before.

"Actually," replied Kaede as he entered the hut with a basketful of herbs in hand, "You're quite lucky. I may not have the skills of my brother, but I do have enough spiritual power to heal your leg in only a few days…"

"A few _days?"_ questioned Sota, certain he had heard Kaede wrong. Even with modern medicine, a wound like his own would take at least a month to heal.

"Ah, yes," continued the priest, crouching down to apply a foul-smelling paste to Sota's injured leg. His hands worked skillfully, as if he had encountered much worse injuries many times before. And, realized Sota, in a time like this, he probably had. "What I'm most worried about is the reappearance of the Shikon Jewel. Now that it's in the village's hands…" Kaede shrugged. "Demons, humans, hybrids of both like our good friend over there…" He gestured towards Inuko, who was lying down on her back in one corner of the hut. She had kept relatively quiet since the revelation of Sota's abilities, but neither Kaede nor Sota felt safe keeping her somewhere she could not be watched. "They'll all be flocking here to gain its powers."

"Hybrids…?" repeated Sota, turning his gaze to the moping dog-girl. "You mean she's not a demon?"

With a sudden flourish, Inuko leaped up, baring her teeth. Sota opened his mouth to subdue her, but Kaede motioned for him to stay silent. He was watching the girl with interest, his gaze sharpened. _"You,"_ snarled Inuko, readying her claws, "Don't you dare speak about me like I'm not here! Not while neither of you have any idea who I really am!"

Sota raised an eyebrow. This time and his own seemed so different, and yet Inuko's grievances sounded just like outbursts he had heard from other teenagers. _You don't understand me! Leave me alone! Stop playing like you get what I'm saying!_

Kaede, too, looked amused. "Ah, but I do. I doubt you'd remember Kaede, the younger brother of your own Kyo?"

"Kaede…" Inuko sat back down, caught off guard. "That kid?" She opened her mouth in a hair-raising cackle. "So it really has been a long time! I'd love to walk right over to Kyo and laugh at his wrinkled old corpse! Tell me where he lives, brat, so I can shove it in his face!"

A sudden silence fell over Kaede. "I'm afraid you were right when you called Kyo a corpse, Inuko. My brother died only moments after sealing you. Why did you think I was the head priest of this village now?"

Inuko fell silent, her expression unreadable. Finally she bared her teeth in a grin and replied, "Good. I'm only disappointed I couldn't do the honors myself."

Kaede smiled wryly, keeping his eyes on the half-demon. "Hmph, I suppose. But then there's Sota here…"

"Me?" The teenager blinked a few times. Up until now, their conversation had only been about past events. But he wasn't even part of the present, much less the times both Kaede and Inuko were reminiscing back to. How could an innocent bystander like _him_ be involved? Nevertheless, Inuko was glaring at him in a way Sota didn't really feel he deserved.

"Oh, must I spell it out for you?" Kaede sat up, finally finished bandaging Sota's leg. "You had the power to release Inuko. You carried the Shikon Jewel within your own body. You look just like my older brother. Is it that hard to deduce that you are the reincarnation of Kyo?"

Sota felt something being pressed into his palm, but only after a few moments of shock did he look to see what it was. The Shikon Jewel glimmered wonderfully in his hand, and Sota felt a sudden rush as he closed his fingers around it. "Keep it," urged Kaede, "It's yours now."

* * *

On the outskirts of town a lone tree stood, offering protection and shade from the sun's rays. Laying comfortably atop one of the branches, a figure in a red kimono dozed softly, her lengthy hair dangling. "Kyo…" she growled, half-asleep, "It's just like you to do this…" A snarl, then a moan: "Not _again,_ you bastard."

"Stop talking to yourself! It's creepy!" There was a thump as a freshly-grown tomato bounced off of Inuko's head. She opened her eyes, annoyed.

"Shut up, Kyo. I'll do whatever the hell I want."

"It's Sota."

The half-demon lurched as she was brought back to reality, rolling over on the branch so that she was sitting in a doglike position, with both hands and feet gripping the tree branch. The schoolboy was looking up at her with a bushel of assorted vegetables in one hand. The smirk on his face reminded Inuko of his subduing powers before she could jump down to throttle him. "I don't care. All humans are the same to me."

Sota grinned broader, knowing he had caught his apparent frienemy (mostly enemy) off guard. "Maybe so, but the villagers do seem to care." He waved the crops over his head. "They've been worshiping me! Giving offerings and everything. Maybe this reincarnation business could turn out all right."

Inuko sniffed, then, inexplicably to both her and Sota, jumped down to sit next to the boy. "Feh. I thought you were supposed to be one of those idiots who thinks they're going to fight for justice and all that nonsense. You're just going to take some poor human's sustenance?"

"Well, I'm not perfect," replied Sota, sitting down as he took a huge bite into an unidentifiable vegetable. He grimaced as he swallowed, reminding himself not to try another one of whatever-the-hell-that-was. "And it's not like I stole it. It was a gift. Want some?" He innocently offered another specimen of the variety he had just tasted.

Inuko, apparently having seen his earlier reaction, knocked it out of his hand unceremoniously. "Keep your vegetables to yourself. I'm a carnivore," she snarled.

"Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," chuckled Sota, taking a bite of what he was fairly sure was a carrot.

"I'm always like this!" snapped Inuko, grabbing another harvest from the pile and tossing it away just to make her point. "And you're not helping! I need that Jewel, dammit! And I _won't_ let you get in my way!"

"…Sit."

"_DAMNIT!"_

* * *

Sota sighed as the last of the sunlight disappeared from view. He realized now that he hadn't ever really known what "darkness" was. In his time, night wasn't really night. It was lit up just as vibrantly in the day, albeit by electric lights instead of the sun. The darkness he was experienced now wasn't familiar, but it was more than just that. It was oppressing.

_I suppose I've got nothing left to do but sleep, now…_ he mused, adjusting his position on the wooden floor of Kaede's hut. A light blanket had been placed atop him, but he was still shivering, be it from cold or excitement. _I guess I really can say that this is the strangest birthday I've had all my life…_

He yawned heavily, then muttered softly, "I do hope Kagome found that damn cat…" Rolling over, he shut his eyes and drifted away.

A soft scuffling sound came from near the window as both residents fell asleep. Three glowing eyes shone wickedly from the outside windowsill as the small creature tried its best to work its way inside.

The creature was sure it had obtained a plausible method of entering when a loud crack from next to it sent it into the air in surprise. The crow-demon cawed once in annoyance, then made its way back from whence it came. It could always come back the next night, after all.

Inuko sent another rock chasing after the crow, then sighed and went back to staring diligently at the old priest's hut. _Shibugarasu… it really thinks it'll have my jewel for itself, huh?_

* * *

"Right, so listen, Terrible Luck…" came a male voice, speaking to no one in particular as he made his way back to the well. His leg had improved considerably, and now he could move around with barely a limp—Sota was shocked that such amazing medicine wasn't used any longer in his time. "It's not my birthday today, so you've nothing to screw with. Mess with me in 364 days and it'll be fair, but for now I just want everything to go back to normal…"

He nodded triumphantly as he reached the clearing he had arrived in when first coming to the Sengoku-jidai the previous day. "So the time-traveling well is right there… nothing you can do about it, you hear me, Luck?!"

As if in response, he was immediately accosted from behind, his head struck with some wooden object. _I really should learn…_ were his last thoughts as he fell into unconsciousness for the third time, _to shut up…_


End file.
